Cartier-Bresson On View

Many people consider him the finest photographer of all time.
He is certainly the father of modern photojournalism.
He was a photographic pioneer; someone who seemed to possess the natural ability to capture a moment - what the called the "decisive moment" - with an astonishing eye for even the smallest detail.
Though his photographs are spontaneous, they seem perfect. Each one tells a story.
In fact, these seemingly precise black-and-white images could not be improved upon even if they were posed and calibrated to the last detail.
He was an artist with a camera, a genius behind the lens.
He was Henri Cartier-Bresson and 49 of his classic photographs are on view through May 2 at the Edwynn Houk Gallery in Manhattan.
To see these prints is to thrill at the power of the still camera.
The show consists entirely of vintage and early prints. It includes work from France, Mexico, Spain and Italy taken in the 1930s, from China and India in the 1940s, and from the U.S. in the 1960s.
Cartier-Bresson is regarded as one of the art world's most unassuming personalities. He disliked publicity and exhibited a ferocious shyness since his days in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Although he took many famous portraits, his own face was little known to the world at large (which presumably had the advantage of allowing him to work on the street in peace). He dismissed others' applications of the term "art" to his photographs, which he thought were merely his gut reactions to moments in time that he had happened upon.
Here's what The Master, himself said about photography:
"The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression... . In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif."

Missing Italian Art In NC

From the Associated Press:
A 350-year-old statue of a saint and former pope, taken from an Italian church nearly two decades ago, has been found in the home of a North Carolina couple who had no idea it was stolen, authorities said.
The intricately carved bust of St. Innocent will be returned to the church in Naples, Italy, U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement agents said.
The statue was one of 17 similar busts and two oil paintings taken from the church in November 1990. Authorities told The Charlotte Observer the trail went cold until two years ago, when officials in Rome let federal agents know an Italian citizen sold a similar statue to an antiques dealer from Greensboro.
The statue sold in Charlotte was bought by the same dealer at an antiques fair in France, said Neal Johnson, the Charlotte dealer who bought the statue from the same Greensboro dealer and sold it to the couple.
"I've never heard of this happening anywhere other than some big-time story in New York," Johnson said. "You don't always know the lineage of pieces you buy."
The wood and painted gold statue was made by 17th-century Franciscan artist Diego da Careri and was part of a set of busts displayed at the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli alle Croci.
It has lost much of its value since it was stolen. The head is gone, part of the cross the saint carried is missing and much of the paint has deteriorated.
Agents continue to investigate the original heist. The Americans involved have not been charged, ICE spokesman Brandon Montgomery said.

DCCA: A True Treasure!

The other day we made a quick turn off I-95 (in search of shopping outlets) and came upon an unexpected treasure: The Delaware Center for the Contemprary Arts (DCCA).
We were so intrigued with this striking building on the Delaware waterfront that we forgot about shopping and spent the afternoon enjoying the wonderful, thought-provoking installations, videos and other avant garde works of art presented here.
Founded in 1979 by a small volunteer group of artists and arts patrons, the DCCA made its focus the promotion of growth and understanding of the contemporary arts in Delaware. It started in a former sheet-metal fabricating factory and moved several times, finally finding its permanent home in 2000. This location offered a 35,000-square-foot building and, now remodeled, presents seven galleries, 26 on-site artist studios, an auditorium, a museum shop, a classroom and administrative office space.
Set in what appears to be a converted warehouse this is a true up-to-date center for the visual arts using natural and exposed materials to showcase art and artists in bright, airy surroundings.
Inside and out this facility is exactly what the name implies: contemporary in every way.
The DCCA, a non-collecting museum, currently presents nearly 30 exhibitions annually of regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized artists. In addition to the exhibitions, DCCA commits to educational and community outreach through various programs, such as artist residencies with underserved community groups and contemporary connections, a model program that fuses art with schools’ core curriculum, offering fresh new ways to teach subjects such as math and science. The DCCA has partnered in some way with more than 60 community groups and schools.
And here's the best part: Museum admission is absolutely free (though donations are welcomed and encoraged!)
The DCCA is open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 pm Wednesday and Sunday.
Take advantage of it!

Masterpieces At Gardner

On of the real treats of my trip to Boston was a visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
If you’ve ever been to the Frick Collection in Manhattan or the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia then you can understand what the Gardner Museum is like. It’s a private museum of artworks collected by a single individual. It reflects the tastes, style and mandates of the late Isabella Stewart Gardner.
Mrs. Gardner oversaw the construction of the museum and the placement of the collected works of art according to her exact specifications. Every item in the museum is placed there for a reason. Not a single item can be moved or altered. The collection remains exactly as she first exhibited it. And what a collection it is!

The galleries are filled with paintings, sculpture, tapestries, furniture, and decorative arts from cultures spanning thirty centuries.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is particularly rich in Italian Renaissance paintings, as well as in 19th-century works by John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler and the first Matisse to enter an American collection. My favorite piece in the collection is Rembrandt's self-portrait at the age of 23. Positively inspired!

Raphael's Pieta is not-to-be-missed as well.

The Museum features a central flowering courtyard and garden as its physical and imaginative center - and the courtyard is a highly memorable aspect of the larger Museum experience. Museum gardeners design, cultivate and present six horticultural displays showcasing seasonal flowers and greenery annually.

Beginning with lunch at the Museum's excellent small cafe, I spent an entire afternoon at The Gardner. The place is beguiling.

If you're ever in Boston, don't miss this extraordianry experience!